20 November 2009

No Living Room 2.0: Still Young, Less Restless, and More Hippied Out Than Ever Before!

And now, to make a long story short, an equation:

Salem, OR+

=

Yep, you got that right. A palm tree. In Sacramento, California, baby. We'd had enough of the abysmal northwest weather and decided not to waste our time or our money putting up with it. So we bought ourselves three tickets and hopped on to the next Amtrak south. They even let us ship our bikes on the train! We had to take them apart just a bit.

Of sixteen hours traveling, 2.5 were during daylight hours. When we arrived in Sacramento at 5:45 in the morning we didn't quite know what to do with ourselves, quite literally. So we just sort of put our bikes back together and rode around.

It was still early, but we were able to steal enough internet from the closed Sacramento Public Library for long enough to email some people last-minute about possible Couchsurfing options.

Unfortunately, we found none before it was beginning to get dark, so we checked into a very cheap hotel (oh well!).

Next morning, we mixed up sommathat delicious dried potato soup Patti gave us in Seaside, and figured out just what route we should take to get to Pittsburgh by the end of that day, where the Generous Joe had told us we could crash at his place.

Another twelve o'clock check-out, and we were off.

First through the city...

...past Arnold's house...

...then along the surging Rio Vista. In the first 25 miles, I think we gained about 16' in elevation.

A short set-back:

repaired.

Also, we rode past a Chevy Avalanche that had evidently been through some serious physical trials. It was connected to a tow truck beside the river, and water was still dripping down the sides and from the bottom. The weird parts were the handcuffs dangling from one of the handles inside, and the diver we saw gearing up just a couple hundred feet down the road - mob hit?

That was weird.

We just started this new thing where we will buy a container of peanut butter, a container of jam, and a loaf of bread, make eight or nine PB&J's, and put them all back into the bread bag. Makes for very good picnics, and the peanut butter and jam lasts for several loafs!

Mmm. Twelve-grain.And the report comes tonight from Pittsburgh, California. Today's miles: a whopping 74! We actually spent a couple of hours riding in the dark there toward the end, which was not so pleasant. But we didn't take any pictures of it, so it's sort of like it never happened. Tomorrow's agenda: bike, BART, and Sisco! Don't touch that dial, folks, things're aboutsta get crazy up in here! CraziER that is!